Blind scriber

ABSTRACT

A scribing instrument is capable of marking on the exposed face of a wall panel being installed, by being guided from the edge of a window, or door, frame hidden behind the panel. The blind scriber has a U-shaped portion in its shank which extends around the side edges of the panel to the rear thereof, so that the guide tip can run along the frame. The shank includes a spacer portion and a handle portion, the latter being on the side of the guide tip opposite from the U-shaped portion and supporting the scribe for movement toward and away from the guide tip.

i United States Patent [191 Houle 51 Nov. 11, 1975 2.654953 10/1953 Phelps 33/41 E BLIND SCRIBER 76 inventor: Roland Houle S. Sh Road, 1 Salem H 03679 Ore Primary E.\'ammer--W1lllam D. Martin, Jr.

I Attorney, Agem. 0r FirnzPearson & Pearson [22] Filed: June 10, 1974 [21] Appl. N0.: 477,895 CT A scribing instrument is capable of marking on the ex- [52] Us. Cl 33/41 33/74 C posed face of a wall panel being installed. by being [51] Int B43L 13/02 guided from the edge of a window, or door, frame hid- [58] Field of Seallch R 41 B 47 den behind the panel. The blind scriber has a U 33/24 shaped portion in its shank which extends around the side edges of the panel to the rear thereof. so that the [56] References Cited guide tip can run along the frame. The shank includes a spacer portion and a handle portion, the latter being UNITED STATES PATENTS on the side of the guide tip opposite from the U- 750,923 2/l 04 Wheelan r. C haped portion and upporting the cribe for movement toward and away from the guide tip. 2:274:72? 3/ I942 Neiss et a] 33/41 E 1 Claim. 4 Drawing Figures US. Patent Nov. 11, 1975 3,918,162

BLIND ISCRIBER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Scribing instruments in variousforms have been used for many years for marking on an exposed, visible face ofa work piece, panel, or the like, a line which is parallel to, or follows the contour of, and edge of the work piece or panel.

Usually such scribers comprise an elongated shank which has a hand grip at one end, a scribing instrument at the other end and an edge guide intermediate of the ends. Usually, also either the scriber is slidably movable relative to the guide or the guide is slidably movable relative to the guide.

Devices of this type are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 1,753,191 to Armstrong of Apr. 8, 1930, U.S. Pat. No. 2,347,659 to Burch of May 22, 1944, U.S. Pat. No. 2,588,658 to Plotnik of Mar. 11, 1952, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,392,449 to Tierney of July 6, 1968.

,FIG. 3 is a perspective ,view on a reduced scale showscribe of FIG. 1 in use.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in the drawings, a'blind scriber 20, con- In each of these patents the scribing instrument is mounted for sliding movement relative to the guide and hand grip.

In U.S. Pat. No. 1,937,660 to Luker ofDec. 5, 1933, the scribe is pivotally mounted relative to the hand grip and guide in the manner of a compass, while in U.S. Pat. No. 3,304,613 to Shawhan of Feb. 21, 1967, it is the guide which is slidable relative to the'scribing knife and hand grip.

None of the scribing instruments disclosed in the above patents are capable of being guided on an edge which is hidden behind a panel while inscribing an accurate line on the visible, exposed face of the panel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The scribing tool of this invention solves the problem of being able to prop a wall panel, such as a four by eight foot grooved plywood sheet, up against a partition, or wall, frame and reaching behind the panel with a guide tip so that an accurate line of cut is inscribed along the side edge of the panel to enable it to accurately fit the corresponding edge of a window frame or door frame.

Unlike the above mentioned prior art scribes, rules or gauges, the tool of the invention includes an elongated shank having a U-shaped bend adapted to fit around the side edge of the panel, the rear leg of the U having a guide normal to the end thereof to ride along the unseen edge of the frame. The front leg of the U has a spacer portion bent away from the panel at right angles to provide room for a scriber to operate and be adjusted. At the front end of the spacer portion, the shank is again bent at right angles parallel to the legs of the U to form first a scribe supporting portion and than a hand grip portion.

The scribe is mounted in sheet metal clamping jaws integral with the scribe supporting portion of the shank and is not slidable therealong, because the scribe remains in precise, rectilinear alignment with the guide portion to inscribe a line or cut corresponding to the frame edge along which the guide is drawn.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a blind scriber constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing a knife as the scribe, rather than a writing instrument; I

structed in accordance with the invention. is intended for use when installing large 4 X8 inch wall panels 21 and attempting to cut the side edge portions 22 to fit flush against the finish lumber Frame 23 of a window 24 or for inscribing any other similar board or sheet in accordance with a frame piece hidden from the operator by the work piece itself. The front, or exposed, face of panel 21 is designated 25, the side edge is designated 26, and the rear face is designated 27, while the side edge of the frame piece 28, is designated 29.

The blind scriber 20 includes an elongated shank 31, preferably of metal and of rod-like configuration, and bent to form an elongated U shaped portion 32, intermediate of the length of the shank. U-shaped portion 32 is formed by a pair of parallel legs, a front leg 33 and a rear leg 34, connected to each other by the bight portion 35 and jointly defining a recess 36 adapted to receive the side edge portion 23 of wall panel 21.

A guide portion 37 is integral with, and bent from the end 38 of front leg 33 to extend normal thereto, portion 37 having a side face 39 which travels along, and rides along the side edge 29 of the frame piece 28.

The shank 3lis bent away from the end 41 at right angles for a predetermined distance to form a spacing portion 42, to provide room for the adjustment of the scribe instrument toward and away from the front face 25 of wall panel 22.

Extending integrally from the front end 43 of spacing portion 42, parallel to the legs 33 and 34 and coplanar therewith, is a scribe support portion 44 and a handle portion 45, the latter having a hand grip 46 mounted thereon.

Clamp means 47 is fixed to the scribe support portion 44 and includes a pair of sheet metal clamping jaws 48 and 49 in which an inscribing element 51 is slidably movable but tightenable therein by set screw 52. The inscribing element 51 may be a writing instrument as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 or may be a knife 53 such as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The scribe 51 when clamped in jaws 48 and 49 is precisely and accurately fixed in rectilinear alignment with the side face 39 of guide portion 37, so that the tip 55 will inscribe a line of cut conforming to the side edge 29 of frame piece. Scribe S1 is also normal to the support and handle portions 44 and 45 of elongated shank 31.

In operation, the blind scriber 20 is applied to panel 21, with the U-shaped portion 32 straddling the side edge portion 22 of the panel 21, while the panel is held upright against the wall. The guide portion 37 is run up or down along the side edge 29 of frame piece 28 with the face 39 traveling therealong. The inner face 54 of rear leg 34 tends to hold the panel close to the wall and the tip 55 of the scribe, or knife, is advanced up to the front face 25 to also hold the panel against the wall while inscribing a line such as 56 thereon. When cut along the line 56, it will be apparent that the panel will fit snugly and accurately against the side edge 29 of the frame piece 28.

I claim:

was

an integral support portion bent from the end of said spacing portion, into parallelism with said front and rear legs and extending beyond said guide portion, on the opposite side thereof from said U-shaped intermediate portion, to form a handle portion;

a hand grip on said handle portion;

a pair of clamping jaws on said handle portion, lo-

cated between said grip and said spacing portion, and

a scriber slidably mounted in said clamping jaws and precisely, axially aligned with said guide portion, for movement toward and away therefrom to mark t a panel located in said recess. 

1. A blind scriber for marking on one face of a wall panel while guided from the other face thereof, said scriber comprising: an elongated, one piece, metal rod shank having an intermediate portion bent into U-shaped configuration to define a work receiving recess and including a rear leg, a front leg parallel to said rear leg and a bight portion connecting said legs; an integral Guide portion bent outwardly from the end of said rear leg and normal thereto; an integral spacing portion bent outwardly from the end of said front leg and normal thereto, an integral support portion bent from the end of said spacing portion, into parallelism with said front and rear legs and extending beyond said guide portion, on the opposite side thereof from said U-shaped intermediate portion, to form a handle portion; a hand grip on said handle portion; a pair of clamping jaws on said handle portion, located between said grip and said spacing portion, and a scriber slidably mounted in said clamping jaws and precisely, axially aligned with said guide portion, for movement toward and away therefrom to mark a panel located in said recess. 